


The Mind's Eye

by rleiena1



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman and Robin (Comics), DCU (Comics), Red Robin (Comics), Robin (Comics), Teen Titans (Comics), Young Justice (Comics)
Genre: Batdad, Fluff, M/M, Overprotective, Telepathy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-21
Updated: 2018-01-21
Packaged: 2019-03-07 20:36:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13442907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rleiena1/pseuds/rleiena1
Summary: When Batman receives an accidental and temporary power transfer of Martian Manhunter's telepathy, he can suddenly see into other people's minds, getting small glimpses of thoughts and memories.Superboy is a normal, healthy, (horny) 16 year old who has a crush on his team mate Robin. Batman does not like what he sees.





	The Mind's Eye

"And this is temporary?" Batman asks irritably. Batman had once thought that having the alien power of telepathy would be a valuable asset to crime-fighting. However, after a mishap where Martian Manhunter's telepathic powers had become temporarily transferred over to Batman, he realizes his mistake. The jumble of thoughts, memories, voices, and feelings are giving him a pounding headache and he is only at Mount Justice where less than five young superheroes are currently presiding in. He can't imagine the pain he would be in if he was in Gotham right now with its emotional residents and enormous population.

Miss Martian looks at Batman with concern and pity and gives him a nod. "Yes. It seems that it will fade away in a few hours. J'onzz's condition has stabilized and he'll be awake in less than two or three hours. By then, the power transfer will have faded completely." 

Batman responds with a curt nod and decides that it is worth the show of vulnerability to press two fingers to massage his temple. The headache is killing him and his vision is already starting to swim from the confusion going on in his head. 

"It's quite hard to maintain control over the power as a human," Miss Martian says sympathetically. "I'm afraid you're going to have to deal with the constant noises and visions until it starts to fade. I may suggest listening to music or watching something to drown out the noises and images." 

Luckily for him, it's daytime at Gotham. While he would have loved to hone the skill and use it to fish out the drug dealers he'd been tracking down on his latest case, the headache and the exhausting fight that had landed him in this predicament are taking a toll on his mental and physical health. A quiet day in the Batcave, far away from civilization, would do quite nicely. 

As he follows Miss Martian toward the transporter in order to get home, he gets fleeting images and voices from the remaining young members at Mount Justice. A nightmare set in a dark forest, anger and indignation over bullying in school, the various ways to slice through an invasion of ninjas, Robin lying on his back over a soft bed, half-naked and flushed from head to toe.

Many believe that Batman is never surprised or caught unawares. However, contrary to popular belief, Batman gets surprised just like the rest of them. He has just trained himself to not show any indication of it. So when he sees the image of his latest ward in a very very compromising position, he is quite shocked to say the least. He immediately stops in his tracks and his mind whirls to try and process this new information.

Batman barely hears Miss Martian utter his name in confusion as he whips around, his mind trying to grapple and hold onto the fleeting image. Using some clumsy method of control that he forces his mind to take, he is able to zero in on the images of Robin.

Robin looking straight at him, biting his lip as he slowly unzips the front of his suit. Robin's back facing him, naked and glistening with sweat and water droplets as the shower head drenches his hair. Robin licking a vanilla ice cream cone, the ice cream melting all over his fingers.

The images get stronger as he hurries down the corridors until he can almost sense the mind is right in front of him. Robin, Impulse, and Superboy are in a small meeting room. The former two are leaned over the desk, poring over the schematics of a building. Robin's head is filled with images of the floor plan he is looking at. Occasionally, lines of code, news reports, and financial records trickle in and out of his mind as he verbalizes a plan into getting in the building. Impulse is chattering on next to him, adding his two cents into the plan. As customary to a speedster, his mind is whirling with hundreds of thoughts from daydreams of racing and beating the Flash, to diagrams of building a laser gun, to food, and even to a 1980's TV show. Batman quickly does his best to block Impulse's thoughts.

Superboy's back is to Batman, but he can tell the boy is paying no attention to the documents in front of him. His head is resting on the hand propped up on the table and is positioned towards the green and red clad boy in front of him. 

Batman had quickly been able to recognize that memories tend to look different from thoughts. Whereas thoughts were fast, fleeting, and quick to dissolve, either too vivid or too weak, memories had a dream-like quality to them and they were more concrete, easier to view and process.

While the more lurid images of Robin seemed to be thoughts, absurd daydreams from Superboy, these new images are clearer, more like memories than unfulfilled desires.

Robin's face is pink and he has on a soft, shy smile. He gently takes the hand outstretched to him and looks up with a warm and inviting face. Another hand stretches forward to palm Robin's cheek and a thumb traces his cheekbone slowly, just under the mask. Robin huffs out a laugh and he leans his face into the hand. Superboy's mind pauses on Robin's smiling face and he lingers over it, emotions such as fondness, joy, and wonder trickling into Batman's head. Batman wonders if he is skilled enough to incapacitate a mind through his temporary telepathic abilities.

As customary to his training, Robin is the first one to notice Batman. He tamps down his jump of surprise and looks up curiously at his mentor, who is standing behind Superboy, drilling a hole into the back of the boy's head with his gaze. Robin notices that Superboy is staring directly at him, with a dreamy and content look, but he pushes that aside to focus on the looming shadow behind him.

"Do you need something, Batman?" he asks. He's not sure why Batman is here at the 'sidekicks HQ'. He has never seen Batman step foot in here unless it's for a mandatory briefing to the younger heroes. He had known Batman and some members of the Justice League had been investigating a magical entity just recently, but it hadn't been marked as a high priority case. Impulse and Superboy jump in surprise and Superboy whips around to meet face to face with Batman.

Batman is pleased to see the memories of Robin fizzle out from Superboy's head like a candle and slight fear and apprehension start entering in its wake. Images of a dark looming shadow with fangs and red eyes enter Superboy's mind and the young hero gulps at the daunting pressure of Batman's presence and unwavering stare.

After a few moments of silence where nothing seems to be happening, he gives Batman a fragile smile and clears his throat. Giving him a small wave, he warily greets him. "Hi Batman? What's up?" Superboy is given no answer and his hand slowly falls back to the table as Batman continues to exude a menacing aura. 

Just when thoughts of Batman throwing a kryptonite batarang enters into Superboy's imagination, he decides he has scared the younger boy enough (for the moment) and he tilts his head up to regard Robin. The boy has his eyebrows knit in concern and when they meet eye contact, Batman tilts his head minutely to the side, their signal to step aside and talk. Robin's brows relax after that and he gets up after Batman turns with a swish of his cape to leave the room.

"I'll just be a second guys," he says. Robin shares a glance with Superboy where the Kryptonian gives him a panicked 'what'd I do' look. Robin shrugs his shoulders and just follows the trailing black cape out the door and through the corridors. They come across some ways, far enough where they both know that Superboy's super-hearing can't hear them without straining and private enough for the two to talk.

Batman pushes a button on a small device and the two know that a high frequency sound is now being emitted and their conversation is safe from any super-sonic prying ear. The man contemplates his next course of action for a moment and continues to give Robin his back. Robin is not sure why Batman is going through such extra precautions and why the conversation couldn't wait until later tonight.

Batman finally turns to regard Robin. Robin's mind is filled with confusion and is running over his latest cases, trying to catch even an inch of failures or mistakes that he believes Batman will bring up.

Batman understands that this is a conversation between him and his partner, Robin. But he also knows deep down, that this is more a conversation with Bruce and Tim.

"What is your relationship with Superboy?"

The unexpectedness of the statement catches Tim by surprise and Bruce is able to catch the answer in his mind. Bruce immediately sees Tim jump back to a memory of Superboy giving him a soft, gentle kiss after a life-threatening mission. Bruce's eyes narrow as he confirms his suspicion that what he had seen from Superboy was a memory. 

"I'm not sure where this is coming from..." Tim trails off. The hard stare Bruce is giving him makes Tim quickly cave. The older man never fails to impress him. The more Tim works with him, the more he's starting to believe Impulse's theory of Batman's omnipresence.

"Okay, fine. We kissed once, but that was it." Tim keeps his eyes trained on Bruce's face, gauging any reactions to the statement. Bruce doesn't fail to disappoint as he gives none.

"And you didn't tell me. Why?"

At that, Tim regards Bruce with a raised eyebrow. "Why would I tell you that Superboy kissed me?"

Bruce resists the urge to growl. "It is my duty to know the personal relationships of my wards I'm charged with. In case it compromises the mission."

The boy rolls his eyes at his mentor behind his mask (but Bruce catches the accompanying thought behind it) and blows his bangs away from his face, a habit he started to pick up from Dick. Bruce sees memories of the former Robin gallivanting with superheroines trickle into Tim's mind. "It's not like any nagging stopped Nightwing," Tim inflects with a dour tone.

Bruce clenches his fists under his cape. He tells himself that this is different, but he dares not utter the words to Tim. Not only would the boy take it the wrong way, interpreting it as some personal failure on his part, but also, the boy would open a can of worms and start a hot debate on how he has shown that he is capable of taking care of himself and how nothing he ever did would be good enough. But to Bruce, it is different. Dick had always had the liability of relationships, his libido too big to control. Bruce had given up early on making sure Dick separated business from pleasure. Jason had also had a similar, yet less pressing, problem. Both Jason and Dick had been open and stubborn about their need to seek human contact.

Tim had never given any indication that he held such importance to such interests. He had always been so obedient and good at keeping relationships at a distance. Even his relationships with Ariana and Stephanie had fizzled out, though now that he had more context, Bruce understands why that may have been so. 

Either way, Tim had never needed a lecture or stern reminder of what it meant to be Robin. He had taken to his role with dedication and fervor, bordering on idolization, which wasn't too surprising. Still, Bruce had never felt that Tim had been distracted or that Tim could be led astray or tricked. He had led himself to believe that Tim was protected from the messiness that came with relationships under the suit.

Plus, something about seeing Tim, so young and honest and hard-working, in such impure positions made Bruce seethe. Especially seeing it from the Luthor clone.

"Yes, and Nightwing learned his lessons the hard way," Bruce finally responds. Tim's face falls at that and he looks off to the side. Bruce experiences the sinking feeling in Tim's stomach. 

"Then, what are you trying to say," Tim asks quietly.

"I want-" Bruce pauses. Tim looks up at him. His expression is now neutral and he gives no indication of what he's thinking. But Bruce can feel the apprehension. The fear that Bruce will tell him to stay away from Conner. Tim doesn't want it to end with Conner. He feels so alive when he's with him and Conner treats him in a way that he's never been treated before. As someone valuable and unique and irreplaceable. But Tim understands the risks and distractions that comes with involving himself with Conner. The risk of exposure, the risk of misplaced priorities during a mission, the risk of a strained relationship with his team mates. He knows where Bruce is coming from.

And Bruce can also hear the ultimatum that Tim gives himself. That if Bruce were to say the words, Tim would drop Conner in an instance. The level of certainty and loyalty both scares and awes Bruce. He had never felt those sentiments from either Dick or Jason.

Bruce blows air through his nose softly, which is the equivalent of a full blown sigh from a different person. Tim's face opens up curiously. "I want you to be careful. I expect that this won't effect your cases and hours. And he is not going to be given exemption to enter Gotham."

Robin smirks up at him. "Obviously. You're making this a bigger deal than it is." But Batman can feel the gratitude, triumph, slight confusion, and elation swell up in Robin. He's thankful for the level of trust Batman is giving him, he finally feels like he's living up to his predecessors. He's confident in his ability to stay level-headed and in the game. He's confused as to why Batman didn't tell him to end it all. But ultimately, he's excited for the future of this thing between him and Superboy.

Batman feels queasy at the level of information he's receiving from Robin, but it chases away any regrets he has for turning a blind eye. This will be beneficial in the long run for the working relationship between him and Robin. And Batman has confidence that Superboy will somehow mess things up and Robin will get this out of his system and choose someone more appropriate and on his level. Batman turns off the sound disrupter and turns back toward the main corridor.

When Batman enters the transporters to return back to Gotham, Miss Martian is waiting there. As an alien with her own psychic abilities, Batman cannot see into her mind, but her amused smile and teasing gaze tells all. Batman expects her to leave it at that, but Miss Martian is obviously in a playful mood after seeing Batman so vulnerable.

"Don't worry, he usually keeps it PG-13," she says with a grin as Batman steps past her and into a transporter.

Batman gives no regard that he heard her and punches in coordinates to the launchpad. Yes, a quiet day in the batcave would do just nicely.

**Author's Note:**

> God I love overprotective batdad. Please check out my account for more fics!


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